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Meursault - I presume you are the same person who has set Listeners in the past. At times I wonder if you have some sort of grudge against the Listener hierarchy. A lot of your posts here, and on Answerbank in the past, seem to have an element of disparagement.
Without revisiting the "should hints or answers be given" argument, accepting that no-one is forced to look at these sites, and acknowledging that as a retired person, I have more time to spend on puzzles than others, it seems to me that that when hints are too blatant or answers are given explicitly, people are deprived of the satisfaction that comes from mulling over a clue for a time, or having the penny suddenly drop.
(I am not Nudd, or any other setter, just a Listener solving addict, who recognises that some puzzles are "better" than others, but all are the work of many hours of labour.)

Olivercardo & Nick the concurrer. Last week, the first contributor on this forum requested that solvers got their heads together. Various members provided different answers. Do you have a grudge against all those members, or just me ?

Gem94. Look back at this thread. You'll see that it wasn't me who gave the link to Alan Garner. I have no quarrel with the person who did.

All 3 of you should think very carefully what you are saying : do you want crosswordsolver to turn into AB, an answer site that doesn't give answers ? Do you want to impose your own rules on this site ?

I have no grudge to bear with anyone, Meursault, and no rules to impose. You frequently refer to ‘rules’ but I don't see it like that. For example, I have a really nice solving relationship with another solver and we share comments on clues etc. by email. We don’t provide any information that isn’t requested, but that isn’t a ‘rule’, Meursault, it is just being considerate and not wanting to spoil the other’s enjoyment.

gem94
..." people are deprived of the satisfaction that comes from mulling over a clue for a time, or having the penny suddenly drop..."

Surely the people who are asking for help are the same people who have been mulling for a while - how long do we/they need to mull for before they dare ask for help??
I expect most are like me and want to finish one crossword completely and move on to another.

Nick, these arguments have all been run before. Not everyone wants to disclose their e-mail address. But I applaud you for assisting another solver (before the coveted submission deadline ?). I have to say that you're sounding like an AB member. 'Spoiler' is a frequently used noun on that forum. Before my freedom of speech was denied me on that forum, I used to ask myself in what context 'spoiler' was used. Perhaps - spoiling their chances of being the 'winner' and holding up a tin salver ? That's no concern of mine.

You have a choice of which forum to visit : AB, where no answers are given and they all make the same noise, or crosswordsolver, where answers are given.

Very well said, meursault! I have the impression at the moment that certain "Dark Forces" are attempting to have the same fatal effect on this discussion thread that they exercised for years on AB. It's ALL, ALL, ALL been said before. Those who wish to ask & answer qq (the main purpose of CS) yes, EVEN on the sacred "L I S T E N E R", will continue to do so. A propos, the idea of LISTENING might help: it seems some contributors here are content to go round in circles for ever, just loving to hear their own trumpets. Really, it's getting to sound mre and more like a kindergarten squabble, or worse. Setter or MERE solver, perhaps one shouldn't be persecuted for using an instrument that's available at one's own discretion. And final constantly repeated but apparently never understood maxim: if you don't want to have your pleasure ruined, why come here anyway reading other people's answers? Enough said?

I don’t use AB, Meursault, and I have no agenda to try and stop answers being given out, Greedykite, that is the purpose of the site is it not? The only thing that I don’t understand is why Meursault insists on giving out information that hasn’t been requested.

A recent study of slimming groups revealed that at the outset all members shared slimming tips equally. But after a few weeks some of the members got better at slimming than others. It was noticeable that those 'successful' slimmers then stopped giving tips. So, they had perceived that they had some status in their little hierarchy and now were using their knowledge in a selfish way, to protect or build their own status.

Thank you to Unclued and Heisenberg for your feedback re my assistance on Listener 4339. I'm reassured that I haven't yet become one of the 'shrivelled' people. And thanks Greedy Kite for your recent feedback.

Nick - As you so correctly point out, I'm not obliged to explain everything.

A recent study of a crossword help site revealed that it worked really well for a long time with some solvers needing help and others who liked to help. However, after introducing one who liked to help even when solvers didn´t need help it seemed to upset the balance.

Paranoia certainly reigns here. If there are any 'dark forces' I don't see them lurking in the contributions of olivercardo, nick and gem94. Olivercardo made a perfectly valid point and adopted a civil and conciliatory tone. There was only one solver who was having trouble with a couple of word shifts; the other questions related to decoding or the message from down clues, so it was perfectly reasonable to ask why meursault posted all that information about the word shifts when it hadn’t been requested. I wondered the same. Perhaps meursault wanted to forestall further questions on that issue but we don’t know because he has chosen not to answer the specific question. That is his right but that right is no greater than somebody else’s right to raise it.

Olivercardo’s facetious opening question (which he tempered with an apologetic qualification) is not without point. If I choose to post half the answers to next week’s crossword just to be helpful to solvers who may be struggling, will I be breaking any rules? Presumably not, because we don’t want rules imposed here, but I suspect I wouldn’t be very popular, even with Crossword Solver devotees. It’s not without precedent by the way, as some will remember from AnswerBank a few years back, though in that case it was all of the answers.

Greedy kite, I'm sorry, but shouting on line with the copious use of capital letters doesn't really help to drive your point home. It just sounds petulant.

Meursault, would you please read people’s posts more carefully. Twice you have drawn conclusions that are not justified by what the poster wrote.